condorflyer

Maron, If that's the case, I'm mighty grateful to that family member! Austin

"Hey you guys have you wonder,d why KLIPSCH LLC has,nt fazed out the Heritage line? Be cause they cant. Why? It surely aint high demand. Why? I believe some one else has Klipsch by the SKRONK. Can you guess who? And the JUBILLE was not included in the agreement. Think hard guys." Maron, For those of us not as familiar with company dealings would you please shed some light on who has Klipsch obligated to continue to carry the Heritage line? Thank you. Austin

skonopa, Thanks for the info. I was in Dayton Ohio for three weeks this past August and called Klipsch HQ. It was clear that unless you were bringing a group of people, a one-on-one was out of the question. If another tour is proposed again, I would be interested. Since they already have 2 rooms, all they have to do is simply advertise this on the website and take appointments. This way the customer could buy direct (and skip the dealer markup) since all those wonderful dealers out there aren't interested carrying Heritage or the ?? Jubilee ?? Austin

BobG, Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to get involved with this forum. I can appreciate a lot of your comments as I sold Klipsch speakers at Tweeter aka HiFiBuys for a short period in my life. Typically the fellow salespeople turned their noses up at Klipsch with comments that theyre too bright, but on the flipside, I sold more Klipsch speakers than the others. One thing to keep in mind here, I wasnt the typical salesperson solely focused on the getting the sale or fixated with margins, commisions, etc.. I was and still am a Klipschorn owner for many years and believe to this day that Klipsch speakers, in particular the Heritage series, are among the most satisfying speakers to listen to everyday. I have listened to a lot of systems and still dont feel motived whatsoever to rid myself of my beloved K-horns. An important point here is that unless the person demonstrating the speaker is passionate about it, the customer can be swayed by the salesperson who has his own agenda. I believe in Klipsch and thats why I pushed it every time. The other part of the equation is the intelligence of the consumer. Some consumers, like myself, read the fine print and want as much information as possible to make an intelligent choice. Along those lines, the Klipsch website could do a better job of informing consumers about the higher end that Klipsch has to offer. In addition, someone in this post has already mentioned including information in your brochures about the better stuff. This is a very good idea as AWARENESS of the alternatives is the seed that may grow into desire and wants. Your website needs to inform and OFFER those descrimating customers an opportunity to hear for themselves that experience. How do you do that? Provide at least one place in the United States where that customer can come and listen to your speakers under very good to ideal conditions. It stands to reason that the associated equipment be chosen to complement your gear. For example, so many here are passionate about how tube gear and horn speakers go together so well together. If Paul Klipsch voiced the Klipschorn using a 2a3 Brooks amp, then by all means, have a good 2a3 present. For those who want to hear solid state, have your Aragon equipment in the same room ready for demo by using banana plugs. Encourage the customer to bring some of their own music. A setup like this at your corporate headquarters shouldnt be out of the question and would not drain company resources to any detriment. The best of both worlds, stereo and home theater, could exist in one room. In my own setup, I have a Cornwall for the center channel and recently acquired two KLF 10s for the rear channels and Im continually amazed at how well it sounds that I prefer to wait until a movie comes out on DVD so that I can watch movies in my own environment. Unless youre dealing with something like a John Allen setup, watching movies at home for sound sake would always be more rewarding. Audio by Van Alstine, a direct Internet seller, has a room where you can listen to his gear. In addition, Bose has retail stores, so again, having one place where an intelligent, monied consumer could go to actually hear the Jubilee and Heritage should not be out of the question. I for one would make the trip because after reading endlessly about all this stuff, I simply want to hear the difference for myself. If the difference were compelling, then yes, I would find a way to acquire it. Others would too. I once took a tour of Wilson Audios facility in Provo Utah while I was in Salt Lake City for a while. It was an interesting experience and at the end of the tour I was treated to a number of speaker demonstrations. The people were nice, the speakers sound nice. Its not such a hard thing to do right. Also, for those do-it-yourselfers, offering to sell plans, drivers, and crossovers is another alternative. This would alleviate the tremendous shipping cost issues, returns, etc. Imagine this scenario, a potential customer visits Klipsch HQ to listen to the Jubilee, likes it so much, now they want it. They have a choice, to build it if theyre crafty, or fork out the bucks to buy it at the reasonable price you intended all along. They have no regrets, no buyers remorse, they know they want it. Why? Because they were provided the opportunity to listen to it first. Imagine a link on the Klipsch website, WANT TO HEAR KLIPSCH HIGH END AT ITS BEST? If professional musicians like Tanya Tucker and actors like Billy Bob Thorton own Klipsch this says something. They have tons of money. They could have bought anything, but chose Klipsch. They chose a product that gives them MUSIC. Substance over expensive boutique gear. Advertise it on the website, let it be known. Build it and they will come. You mentioned some other projects in the works that sound interesting, care to share anything about the performance league of Jubilee/Heritage and beyond? To you and Klipschs future success. Thank you. Austin

Trey or Steve P, I have on order a small tube amp (Wright Sound WPA3.5 2a3) and have been contemplating the AK-4 upgrade. Since I'm concerned about drive load, is the AK-4 crossover designed to present a constant impedance? Thank you. Austin

Jeff, Did you listen to the Wright Sound Company WPA3.5 mono block amps in your comparisons? I have read quite a number of favorable experiences with these and the Khorn. Austin

Trey, From one of your earlier posts on this thread: "The k-55-x when used in with the ak-4 network does not need a autoformer. As AL stated, there are other ways to reduce the voltage to the mid. I can answer the question of what networks will the 55x work with after we finish our testing. We are only looking at the last 20 or so years. (AA,AK,AK-1,AK-2,AK-3) Therefore, it the driver will work with the A network would only be a guess. When we finish, I will post again and let you all know what we find. I can tell you this, after installing the AK-4 upgrade to one of Steve's 1977 Khorns, we could not tell the difference between the 2003 model and the 1977. Using the old woofer was not a issue. We have taken over 120 pic's so far. Most of them will end up in the manual." ......How did the listening go? Did you find out what is compatible with what? Also is the manual available now? Thanks.

Trey, From your 1st post on this thread: "Tanya was happy to have her 1996 WO Khorns playing again. (blown tweeters due to an amp problem) She told me they sound better than they ever did, while listening to her new CD titled Tanya. She started singing along with the CD and I now know for a fact that the Klipschorn sounds just like the real thing." She liked the sound and so did you.....so now I'm curious: What electronics (amp, pre-amp, Cd player), speaker wire, & interconnect was she using with her Klipschorns? I know it's been a while since you visited, but how are the memory banks holdin' up?? Thanks! Austin

Dean, Are your Quicksilver's quite at idle? My ss amp makes a slight hissing sound at idle that is noticable and detracting at times. Also, do you ever hear "tube rush"? I don't know that much about tube gear, but I'm finally ready to listen/experiment with a tube amp with my Khorns. I have read good things about the Moth Audio Si2A3 and the Coincident Speaker Technology SIP 300B, both of which have source switching and volume control....very appealing because I would like to eliminate the pre-amp....have you ever listened to either one? Coincident claims that their SIP300B is "dead quiet" at idle, but remains something I'd have to verify if I got the chance. I'm trying to avoid buying a bunch of different tube amps just to find out what they all sound like, ie, 2A3, 300B, etc. Any words of advice for someone looking for a very high quality, very good sounding amp(that a lot of people agree on, preferably not from the established audio press), that is quite at idle and doesn't have what I guess what is referred to as microphonic noise (aka tube rush?). Thank you! Austin

I think it's quite interesting; all the comments made about the apparent complexity of the new AK-4 crossover (I admit I don't know anything technical here). So far, I haven't read one negative comment about how the 2002 or newer Klipschorn sounds though. Going forward, it will be even more interesting to find out if the new AK-4 can be tweaked even more with the new tweeter & squaker. Is there room for improvement with the AK-4?

Trey, This may sound like a premature & dumb question.....the most recent posts focus on compatibility of older crossovers with the current squaker, but what about compatibility with the new tweeter? When I spoke with Klipsch technical support recently I was told the new tweeter would not work with my older crossover either (I have the type A network). Would appreciation any help. Thank you. Austin

Larry, It seems pretty consistent from your experience and some others that have commented here in the forum and elsewhere that the "2002 Khorn" or newer is better all around. Since curiousity will get the better of me, I will definitely listen to the new Khorn. How would you characterize the sound of your speakers after you changed the internal wiring to Siltech? Ever listen to Atma-Sphere OTL's? Listening to tube gear with my Khorns ranks very high on the list of things to do. I have a Pass Aleph 30 amp and Pass Labs X2 pre-amp (both pure class a) with a Theta Miles on the way. Not sure how it will sound when everything is in place, but that's part of the fun. Wow....a 30+ year search for the holy grail....which Joule-Electra do you have? While were're on the subject, what other gear are you using with your OTL? Thanks. Austin

You guys are great! To complete the trio, who makes the current production woofer? Now this one is a bit obscure, but for anyone who has taken the time to flush mount the tweeter and squaker to the front of the top cabinet, have you noticed such a difference that you felt it was well worth the effort or better to leave as is rear mounted?

Thomas, Thanks for posting those pictures. I have a pair of khorns from the 60's that originally were unfinished. I have since veneered them and made them look very similar to yours. I'm very curious to listen to the "new 2002 khorn" and compare the difference. I will certainly post more pictures of mine (the before & after) once I get my stuff out of storage. There are some differences, but they seem to be minor. Congrats on getting what you really wanted.....you have good taste! I've listened to all types of systems including ones costing over 100K like the Wilson WAMM and still feel the khorn is more satisfying. Enjoy!

John, You are correct about my drivers, I do have the K-55-V and K-77. I inherited my fathers Klipschorns. My father met Paul Klipsch at a New York audio show sometime in the 60s. My father was so impressed with him, he bought the K-horns and one Cornwall as unfinished boxes. This was after he already owned the Altec Voice of the Theater speakers which my other brother currently owns. My father also bought one Patrician which I sold a long time ago. Out of the three, I prefered the K-horn. I grew up listening to the VOT and always liked them, but after I completely refinished and veneered the K-horns, I was completely enchanted with them. It was a labor of love. Once I put a VOT on one side of a room and the K-horn on the other and my brothers & I all went for the K-horn. My father voted for the VOT, although it was close. I took some aircraft grade birch veneer and finished them to look like the current model. This refinishing took place in the early 90s. A while back I checked the serial number for them and they were made in the 60s. Like an idiot, I ended up blowing the tweeters (K-77) and the woofers were shot anyway, so I bought from a Klipsch dealer the newer tweeter (K-77-M) and new woofers. I still have the old tweeters, but I dont know what happened to the old woofers unfortunately. Fast forward to 2001; thats when I learned about Al Klappenbergers crossover. I finally bought a set from him a number of months ago and Im stewing because my K-horns are in storage in Atlanta and Im living and working in Pennsylvania. My place is so small right now, but I still want to listen to them. Its time for a road trip with a moving van! Thanks for clarification on the diaphram including the voice coil. Where does one buy a new PD5-VH these days? I asked Mr. Klappenberger if his crossover is compatible with the new 2002 Klipschorn tweeter & squaker, but he wasnt sure. He needs to look at the new crossover and test the drivers. If I get the upgrade kit, Id certainly be interested in his opinion. Im very grateful this forum exists and for all the help!